LFD Cables (phono and I.C.) from the UK, cables as components

Mike Lavigne

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for the last 10 years of my high end audiophile time, i've mostly steered clear of the very top price level of signal cables. i did own some very 'uber' priced Tara Labs interconnects for a couple years chasing digital goodness with my Trinity dac and Golden Gate. impressive with their grounding boxes and such. they have been gone 3 years now. 18 years ago i owned $33k Transparent Audio Opus MM speaker cables, for a year i owned 2 sets ($66k worth:eek:) of them. sold my last set about 10 years ago. with darTZeel (50 ohm zeel) and Evolution (used the wire used in the speakers) i just did not really see the need for that.

lately i've been stepping up my vinyl playback and been speaking to Mik in the UK about some super special phono cables, the LFD, made by Dr. Richard Bews. after much discussion (over almost 9 months now) and some of my own research (there is little to be found about LFD......mostly word of mouth), i committed to having a DIN to RCA phono cable made for me. i've done the CS Port Phono, which has been 100%+ of Mik's representations, the CS Port Phono the same, the Etsuro Gold too.

this LFD "Kotonaru Arm" DIN to RCA cable (and a similar LFD set of "Raptor Mk2" RCA interconnects) finally arrived last week.

first listen in the system was positive on Friday night, but not earthshaking. it was a step up over a very good Found Music DIN to RCA i was using, but more body and textures. then Saturday morning it got a bit cloudy and i was concerned. went to work on Saturday, Mik had called me but i had not responded to him. Saturday night i put the Found Music cable back in and it seemed more open and 'familiar'. put the LFD back in and again, a bit opaque.

then Sunday morning Jazdoc came over and we had a plan to compare the cables objectively. started out with the LFD, then switched to the Found Music. at that point we thought something was missing from the LFD and the Found Music was better. we also listened to the LFD RCA interconnects between the CS Port and the dart pre and compared them to the Found Music RCA interconnects i had been using. we thought those were very close to even. just differences.

so we did another round of comparisons. now.......there was a significant 180 degree change. now the LFD phono was showing all this additional information. the more we played it the more all this texture and color (not coloration) came into play. and it was very much something revealed in the music and no artifact. the music was more real.

that was Sunday around 2pm. i listened the rest of the day, and every morning and night since. it gets better and better. i've heard 'mega' cables in systems at shows, and owned a few as i mentioned. i've not personally heard this sort of musical reality completing the reproduction picture. i own a number of vintage classical pressings that have always been just a little edgy or maybe borderline harsh. i like the music but never warmed up to them. the LFD cable translates that harshness to musical information and brings these alive. it's remarkable. there is now an expressiveness and textural completeness like reality. this is not vividness turned up to 11, or air, air, air and openness to the sky. it's not FR related. this is not a tonal coloration or issue of soundstage or bass articulation, although all those things are top level. this is texture and substance. stuff in the recording but not previously heard. a different level of musically significant information.

this cable had 3-4 hours on it when i got it. now it has maybe 20-25 hours. so there is a ways to go. maybe there still will be some down spots. but right now as i sit here this cable is bringing as much to the party in terms of musical value as any other piece of the chain...it's a component

LFD-P-1-_ (1 of 1).jpg LFD-P-2 (1 of 1).jpg
 
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Mike Lavigne

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here is some information about LFD cables;

LFD Audio formed in 1987 means "low fuzzy distortion". Dr Richard Bews is a direct PhD student of Professor Hawksford who formed an audio group which carried research into audio design which MSC's and PhD's were awarded. This was run at University of Essex. LFD was started in 87' by Dr Bews and Professor Hawksford . Dr Bews has much admiration for Be Yamamura who Richard sees as a mentor. From this Richard acquired a passion for creative High End audio, utilising unusual and obsolete parts. The first product was the truly legendary Battery disc stage which is unique and innovative and ultra simple which demanded only the very best parts and wiring including bakelite pure silver leaved capacitors and shinko tantalum film resistors. It was a test bench to evaluate parts wiring and layout. This is a completely floating battery powered design .

Cables; Richard's view is most equipment is limited by the external and internal cables and to improve LFD amplifiers, heavy amounts of research has gone into cables, basically for the R&D of the Multi diameter cables, more than 2 Million US Dollars was invested to produce various diameters and profiles of conductors using a continuous cast processes.

The Kotonaru Arm cable (the one i am using and pictured in the previous post).

Uses a variety of conductors comprising of a custom made and pulled solid massive amorphous(made from copper and silver clad) core conductor custom made pure silver ribbon conductors and silver clad copper conductors multi core copper conductors utilising a custom made dielectric (to reduce grain present in most copper cables). These cables have decades of cable design and research to come up with this. The hot and the cold conductors are totally different from each other which is used to enhance the sound quality. This cable can be exclusively voiced to suit various systems RRP £16995.

the Raptor Interconnect Mk2 (the interconnects i am using....pictured below)

Uses 20 individual pure silver hand pulled silver conductors all of differing diameters some which are very large, with multiple satellite smaller conductors. The precise silver conductor diameter values are very important particularly of the smaller ones. Even a difference of 0.01mm has a major influence on the sound. The principle is that each diameter acts like a sharp filter and has to be combined within the cable to produce the correct subjective frequency and time domain response. £14995.

LFD-RCA-1 (1 of 1).jpg LFD-RCA-2 (1 of 1).jpg
 
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Mike Lavigne

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in my research into LFD cables i did come across this thread on the UK site 'Art of Sound' for those who want a little deeper dive. it's a little tedious to find the 'meat' but it mostly is all there is to find.

https://theartofsound.net/forum/sho...hard-Bews-%96-LFD-A-glimpse-into-his-thinking

no doubt Dr. Richard Bews is not a self promoter, and social media is not pushing these cables. for whatever that is worth.:cool:
 
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spiritofmusic

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Mike, is there mileage for you in replacing other cables in your system with LFD?
 

tima

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The Kotonaru Arm cable (the one i am using and pictured in the previous post).

Uses a variety of conductors comprising of a custom made and pulled solid massive amorphous(made from copper and silver clad) core conductor custom made pure silver ribbon conductors and silver clad copper conductors multi core copper conductors utilising a custom made dielectric (to reduce grain present in most copper cables). These cables have decades of cable design and research to come up with this. The hot and the cold conductors are totally different from each other which is used to enhance the sound quality. This cable can be exclusively voiced to suit various systems RRP £16995.

Mike, if this is your writing, pardon me for trying to parse it ... no disrespect but the second sentence is, er, fuzzy. (I'm guessing you did not write that because its sentences are capitalized. :))

Multiple conductors compose the tonearm cable. These include:
- a core conductor of copper clad with silver
- silver ribbon conductors
... and that's it for conductors.

Is that correct?

In post #1 the first picture is the DIN end (5 pin?) and the second picture shows the RCA ends. I'm guessing the Kotonaru is a traditional RCA single-ended (un-balanced coaxial) design. The silver clad copper core is the inner conductor or signal wire. The dielectric around the inner conductor "reduces grain present in most copper cables." The silver ribbon conductors (plural because they are woven together to form a tube) make up the outer conductor which is both shield and ground.

Does that sound right?

Do the oblong silver things on each end of the cable contain a network or something that ties into the signal or are they purely aesthetic features?

I'm guessing you believe in break-in as you heard differences across the initial hours. Because of the very low voltage it carries, tonearm cable is traditionally difficult to break-in. Do you plan to do any break-in other than by playing records?

Congratulations on your new cables.
 
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Audiophile Bill

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Mar 23, 2015
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here is some information about LFD cables;

LFD Audio formed in 1987 means "low fuzzy distortion". Dr Richard Bews is a direct PhD student of Professor Hawksford who formed an audio group which carried research into audio design which MSC's and PhD's were awarded. This was run at University of Essex. LFD was started in 87' by Dr Bews and Professor Hawksford . Dr Bews has much admiration for Be Yamamura who Richard sees as a mentor. From this Richard acquired a passion for creative High End audio, utilising unusual and obsolete parts. The first product was the truly legendary Battery disc stage which is unique and innovative and ultra simple which demanded only the very best parts and wiring including bakelite pure silver leaved capacitors and shinko tantalum film resistors. It was a test bench to evaluate parts wiring and layout. This is a completely floating battery powered design .

Cables; Richard's view is most equipment is limited by the external and internal cables and to improve LFD amplifiers, heavy amounts of research has gone into cables, basically for the R&D of the Multi diameter cables, more than 2 Million US Dollars was invested to produce various diameters and profiles of conductors using a continuous cast processes.

The Kotonaru Arm cable (the one i am using and pictured in the previous post).

Uses a variety of conductors comprising of a custom made and pulled solid massive amorphous(made from copper and silver clad) core conductor custom made pure silver ribbon conductors and silver clad copper conductors multi core copper conductors utilising a custom made dielectric (to reduce grain present in most copper cables). These cables have decades of cable design and research to come up with this. The hot and the cold conductors are totally different from each other which is used to enhance the sound quality. This cable can be exclusively voiced to suit various systems RRP £16995.

the Raptor Interconnect Mk2 (the interconnects i am using....pictured below)

Uses 20 individual pure silver hand pulled silver silver conductors all of differing diameters some which are very large, with multiple satellite smaller conductors. The precise silver conductor diameter values are very important particularly of the smaller ones. Even a difference of 0.0.1mm has a major influence on the sound. The principle is that each diameter acts like a sharp filter and has to be combined within the cable to produce the correct subjective frequency and time domain response. £14995.

View attachment 68746 View attachment 68747

Hi Mike,

Congratulations on your new cables!

I have heard the LFD cables (Raptor and the totl Cobra) at Mik’s and also via some videos he sent me where I was blinded to the cable choice.

The immediate thing that jumped out at me was a significant enhancement of purity and reduction of a grain that wasn’t obvious until it was gone. The noise floor of the system was seemingly lower too. I recall at the time phoning Mik after I heard the video and asking him if there was a filtration network in the cable, which I understand there is not. My assumption is that the the cable geometry and combination of different materials and conductor gauges (and types) has a filtering effect.

To illustrate what this means in net terms. On the Harry Belafonte (Live at Carnegie) recording, his voice became more palpable and present rather than just in the recording itself. The voice itself had more tone colour and saturation that engaged you in such a way that you just wanted to listen more (I remember using the word “human” which was weird at the time but it just sounded real). Due to the perceived (or real) reduction in noise, the vocal pops more into the room and takes a holographic type of image rather than a 2D flatter image.
What surprised me though, was that the length of decay was also enhanced. I was expecting to lose a bit of decay but I was wrong.

Imho the LFD cables get to the music first and foremost and don’t spot light frequencies like some of the “mega” cables do. The latter are often like visiting the local AV centre with the latest 8K flatscreen deliberately turned up to maximum on ONE setting like contrast.

Enjoy your cables and don’t let Mik send you the Cobras lol.
 

Audiophile Bill

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Mar 23, 2015
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Hi Mike,

Congratulations on your new cables!

I have heard the LFD cables (Raptor and the totl Cobra) at Mik’s and also via some videos he sent me where I was blinded to the cable choice.

The immediate thing that jumped out at me was a significant enhancement of purity and reduction of a grain that wasn’t obvious until it was gone. The noise floor of the system was seemingly lower too. I recall at the time phoning Mik after I heard the video and asking him if there was a filtration network in the cable, which I understand there is not. My assumption is that the the cable geometry and combination of different materials and conductor gauges (and types) has a filtering effect.

To illustrate what this means in net terms. On the Harry Belafonte (Live at Carnegie) recording, his voice became more palpable and present rather than just in the recording itself. The voice itself had more tone colour and saturation that engaged you in such a way that you just wanted to listen more (I remember using the word “human” which was weird at the time but it just sounded real). Due to the perceived (or real) reduction in noise, the vocal pops more into the room and takes a holographic type of image rather than a 2D flatter image.
What surprised me though, was that the length of decay was also enhanced. I was expecting to lose a bit of decay but I was wrong.

Imho the LFD cables get to the music first and foremost and don’t spot light frequencies like some of the “mega” cables do. The latter are often like visiting the local AV centre with the latest 8K flatscreen deliberately turned up to maximum on ONE setting like contrast.

Enjoy your cables and don’t let Mik send you the Cobras lol.

Somebody just texted and asked me which cables were in the blind test I referred to above:

> Siltech Triple Crown
> Zensati Silenzio
 
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108CY

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Mike, if this is your writing, pardon me for trying to parse it ... no disrespect but the second sentence is, er, fuzzy. (I'm guessing you did not write that because its sentences are capitalized. :))

Multiple conductors compose the tonearm cable. These include:
- a core conductor of copper clad with silver
- silver ribbon conductors
... and that's it for conductors.

Is that correct?

In post #1 the first picture is the DIN end (5 pin?) and the second picture shows the RCA ends. I'm guessing the Kotonaru is a traditional RCA single-ended (un-balanced coaxial) design. The silver clad copper core is the inner conductor or signal wire. The dielectric around the inner conductor "reduces grain present in most copper cables." The silver ribbon conductors (plural because they are woven together to form a tube) make up the outer conductor which is both shield and ground.

Does that sound right?

Do the oblong silver things on each end of the cable contain a network or something that ties into the signal or are they purely aesthetic features?

I'm guessing you believe in break-in as you heard differences across the initial hours. Because of the very low voltage it carries, tonearm cable is traditionally difficult to break-in. Do you plan to do any break-in other than by playing records?

Congratulations on your new cables.

The Kontanaru cable is a twisted pair and not a coaxial cable with outer screen however it pretty unconventional cable in that the hot and cold conductors are different to each other unlike conventional cables, in that the hot and cold conductors formed from either silver copper, amorphous, and pure solid silver ribbons basically there are six different materials for the hot and cold conductors. The rings are for mechanical dampening and do not carry any networks. The plugs are all custom made for each particular cable and compliment the sonic characteristic of each cable design. This has taken years and years or research and development looking into base conductor material conductor size, geometry and dielectric with huge amounts of investment and time. The very large custom made amorphous core is a mixture of two pure metals where the ratio of the two metals are very much important to the final sound. The annealing for each conductor being copper silver or amorphous is a very important factor.
 
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hogen

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for the last 10 years of my high end audiophile time, i've mostly steered clear of the very top price level of signal cables. i did own some very 'uber' priced Tara Labs interconnects for a couple years chasing digital goodness with my Trinity dac and Golden Gate. impressive with their grounding boxes and such. they have been gone 3 years now. 18 years ago i owned $33k Transparent Audio Opus MM speaker cables, for a year i owned 2 sets ($66k worth:eek:) of them. sold my last set about 10 years ago. with darTZeel (50 ohm zeel) and Evolution (used the wire used in the speakers) i just did not really see the need for that.

lately i've been stepping up my vinyl playback and been speaking to Mik in the UK about some super special phono cables, the LFD, made by Dr. Richard Bews. after much discussion (over almost 9 months now) and some of my own research (there is little to be found about LFD......mostly word of mouth), i committed to having a DIN to RCA phono cable made for me. i've done the CS Port Phono, which has been 100%+ of Mik's representations, the CS Port Phono the same, the Etsuro Gold too.

this LFD "Kotonaru Arm" DIN to RCA cable (and a similar LFD set of "Raptor Mk2" RCA interconnects) finally arrived last week.

first listen in the system was positive on Friday night, but not earthshaking. it was a step up over a very good Found Music DIN to RCA i was using, but more body and textures. then Saturday morning it got a bit cloudy and i was concerned. went to work on Saturday, Mik had called me but i had not responded to him. Saturday night i put the Found Music cable back in and it seemed more open and 'familiar'. put the LFD back in and again, a bit opaque.

then Sunday morning Jazdoc came over and we had a plan to compare the cables objectively. started out with the LFD, then switched to the Found Music. at that point we thought something was missing from the LFD and the Found Music was better. we also listened to the LFD RCA interconnects between the CS Port and the dart pre and compared them to the Found Music RCA interconnects i had been using. we thought those were very close to even. just differences.

so we did another round of comparisons. now.......there was a significant 180 degree change. now the LFD phono was showing all this additional information. the more we played it the more all this texture and color (not coloration) came into play. and it was very much something revealed in the music and no artifact. the music was more real.

that was Sunday around 2pm. i listened the rest of the day, and every morning and night since. it gets better and better. i've heard 'mega' cables in systems at shows, and owned a few as i mentioned. i've not personally heard this sort of musical reality completing the reproduction picture. i own a number of vintage classical pressings that have always been just a little edgy or maybe borderline harsh. i like the music but never warmed up to them. the LFD cable translates that harshness to musical information and brings these alive. it's remarkable. there is now an expressiveness and textural completeness like reality. this is not vividness turned up to 11, or air, air, air and openness to the sky. it's not FR related. this is not a tonal coloration or issue of soundstage or bass articulation, although all those things are top level. this is texture and substance. stuff in the recording but not previously heard. a different level of musically significant information.

this cable had 3-4 hours on it when i got it. now it has maybe 20-25 hours. so there is a ways to go. maybe there still will be some down spots. but right now as i sit here this cable is bringing as much to the party in terms of musical value as any other piece of the chain...it's a component

View attachment 68744 View attachment 68745

That is my experience also, its a component.
 
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Mike Lavigne

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Mike, is there mileage for you in replacing other cables in your system with LFD?

hifi piggy bank is empty. no intentions to fill it up again.

happy with my 50 ohm zeel in other spots and my Evolution Acoustics speaker cable.

do i know likely LFD could push those envelopes? at this point hard not to believe that, but zero plans to pursue it. my goal was to hear what my vinyl could do if given the tools. thrilled at what i'm hearing. time to shut'r down and just listen.
 
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Mike Lavigne

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Mike, if this is your writing, pardon me for trying to parse it ... no disrespect but the second sentence is, er, fuzzy. (I'm guessing you did not write that because its sentences are capitalized. :))

since every time Mik described the build approach of the LFD cables over the phone, the big words made my eyes glazed over and it got too deep for me quickly, so i asked Mik to write some details so i did not get things too confused; which he did and sent it to me to use. Honestly his 'Mik-Speak' did require i edit it and end sentences and add capitalization for clarity sake. i realize i don't personally use capitalization as i'm a late life typing (two finger) adapter, at work the software fixes it, for my personal i just go with absence of capitals. i typically write plainly (don't use big technical words) so IMHO my posting is readable.

but guilty as charged. not changing now.:)

I'm guessing you believe in break-in as you heard differences across the initial hours. Because of the very low voltage it carries, tonearm cable is traditionally difficult to break-in. Do you plan to do any break-in other than by playing records?

Mik had warned me of a long and winding road for break-in, and had only put a couple hours on the cable before i got it. as long as i'm hearing the magic like i am now i'm just going to allow it to break-in on it's own as i play records. i do own a Audiodharma Cable Cooker plus another doohickey/thingamajig phono cable connector i could use to promote that. we will see how that goes. it's sounding so wonderful i'm happy going down this road for now.

Congratulations on your new cables.

thank you. after 25 years of very serious audiophile pursuits this cable experience is right up there crossing boundaries with anything i have heard.
 
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Mike Lavigne

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Hi Mike,

Congratulations on your new cables!

I have heard the LFD cables (Raptor and the totl Cobra) at Mik’s and also via some videos he sent me where I was blinded to the cable choice.

The immediate thing that jumped out at me was a significant enhancement of purity and reduction of a grain that wasn’t obvious until it was gone. The noise floor of the system was seemingly lower too. I recall at the time phoning Mik after I heard the video and asking him if there was a filtration network in the cable, which I understand there is not. My assumption is that the the cable geometry and combination of different materials and conductor gauges (and types) has a filtering effect.

To illustrate what this means in net terms. On the Harry Belafonte (Live at Carnegie) recording, his voice became more palpable and present rather than just in the recording itself. The voice itself had more tone colour and saturation that engaged you in such a way that you just wanted to listen more (I remember using the word “human” which was weird at the time but it just sounded real). Due to the perceived (or real) reduction in noise, the vocal pops more into the room and takes a holographic type of image rather than a 2D flatter image.
What surprised me though, was that the length of decay was also enhanced. I was expecting to lose a bit of decay but I was wrong.

Imho the LFD cables get to the music first and foremost and don’t spot light frequencies like some of the “mega” cables do. The latter are often like visiting the local AV centre with the latest 8K flatscreen deliberately turned up to maximum on ONE setting like contrast.

Enjoy your cables and don’t let Mik send you the Cobras lol.

thank you Bill.

and great description from your experience. better than i could write, but does capture what i've been hearing. these cables go to a place of recovery of the completeness of the recording i had not previously heard. also agree i how these separate themselves for my other 'mega' cable experiences.

Mik has explained to me previously just how painstaking and time consuming the process of building the higher level LFD cables is for Dr. Bews. and why other cable manufacturers would never go down this less (never) traveled road even if they understood it. it does not scale to high volume at all. and based on their cost/retail approach they would be 6 figure products.:eek:

and i do know there are higher levels of LFD than i've got, but i will just leave that to the Billionaires (with a B) Mik sells them to. i'm in heaven where i'm at.
 
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Bobvin

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Mike, are you plugging the LFD into the CS Port directly, using the MC inputs, or into the SUT?
 

Mike Lavigne

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Mike, are you plugging the LFD into the CS Port directly, using the MC inputs, or into the SUT?

the LFD phono is from the CS Port turntable to the EMIA silver SUT; the SUT is connected to the MM input on the CS Port phono with 18" special interconnects provided by Dave Slagle..

the LFD RCA interconnects are from the CS Port phono to the dart preamp.
 
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westlower

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Another Richard Bews cable fan here.

I too was introduced by Mik @ Unique Audio to LFD cabling.
I have had the privilage of hearing some crazy sounding and even crazier looking Frankenstein cables at Unique Audio.
The cabling so large that no phono RCA or Din plug can handle, so all the soldering is on the outside. Those were Mik's personal cables, dragged up from the crazy depths of his and Richard Bews' imagination, never intended for commercial sale and totally unviable and unobtainable to most of us.

I'm not really a customer of Mik's as he moves in a very different lane..
But there were LFD products that Mik had the good heart to loan me! just for me to see what was possible on my system.
I wish he hadn't! I was loaned the Raptor, a Viper and a Scorpion cable for comparisons ...

I'd always thought my system to be good enough for me, and good enough to extract the most from the tens of thousands of Jazz records I'd collected. Well, once those cables were in the system, just a whole new presentation was revealed.

I have to agree with the previous comments regarding these cables almost being as large as component upgrades, I'd even say more so.
It certainly begs the question... is the attention on component upgrades misguided when certainly much more can be extracted from the kit with these cables!
Out of the cables I had in for the loan, the Raptor was very very special indeed. When it was gone, we (wife included!) really noticed it. And that's the litmus test for me. It added a whole new level of musicality and enjoyment to the system. Really if I could have pulled the trigger on it, I would literally have built future system around it.

And so I had to compromise and went way way down the ladder of LFD cabling, which to these ears was still rather special, and thats whats in my rig now.

I still wake up in a sweat thinking about the cables that had to go back.

Dr Richard Bews, I salute you sir, clever guy
 

dcathro

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Congratulations on your new acquisition, Mike!

It's great that a piece of wire can create such enthusiasm.

You said the conductors are silver, do you know what the dielectrics are?
 

Mike Lavigne

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Congratulations on your new acquisition, Mike!

It's great that a piece of wire can create such enthusiasm.

You said the conductors are silver, do you know what the dielectrics are?

thank you.

Actually I did not claim any silver conductors anywhere. I did post Mik’s information in that post. And then later he explained a little more.

if there were a bell curve of levels of understanding for cable technical terms i would be toward the end of least understanding.:) so i cannot answer. but maybe Mik might comment.
 
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Barry2013

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Thank you for this thread Mike.
I can well believe the benefits you describe of the LFD cables having heard the LFD cables Mik uses in his own system.
It may be helpful for those with more restricted budgets to know that the LFD range includes a number of much more affordable cables. I recently installed a Grainless cable from my AV amp to my twin centre speaker and gained an immediately noticeable improvement in the sound quality of TV broadcasts from my Sky satellite dish. Much clearer and articulate and £200 very well spent.
LFD does have a US dealer in the shape of Gene Rubin Audio in California and used examples of their products can be found on Hifishark.
 
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Mike Lavigne

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earlier today Mik asked me if if i was keeping the LFD Raptor Mk2 RCA interconnects; as he had a customer who had an interest in it. the LFD phono is mine, but the I.C.'s were sent along for me to try. no doubt on Sunday with Mark and i, as time went by, it was clear that the Raptor Mk2 was surpassing the very fine Found Music RCA's i had there these last number of months. but i had not gone back to really nail that compare down. so i told Mik that i would do that tonight. it's a significant investment. i was not really expecting to keep it.....but curious.

i just received the Jochum/Bruckner 9 Symphony Box Set; so tonight i pulled out the 2nd Symphony, dimmed the lights, and away i went. listened to half the first side......really clear, fine recording, musically compelling, the music very lively and vivid; then quickly switched in the Found Music cables, and listened again. was this a different recording? it was missing the transparency, missing the naturalness and resolution of transients, textures and delicacy. the flow was restricted. it lacked ease and organization. i made myself listen for the whole half of the side. these cables had been my reference for 6 months.

damn. with a capital D.

on Sunday at 10:30am these two cables were give and take to Mark and I......now it's multiple orders of magnitude difference.

message to Mik "Keeping the Raptor Mk2".

a side benefit of this cable is it will raise the performance of the Saskia/Tosca/Etsuro Gold + the EMT 948/Kairos/Infinity mono too. which helps.
 
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  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

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Steve Williams
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Ron Resnick
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